In fact, we recently got an interesting look at what some of our city governmental entities accomplished in 2017 and what goals they have for this year in a series of News-Herald stories.

These stories provided a recap of progress made in these communities last year and a preview of projects and initiatives that are on the drawing board for 2018.

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In Eastlake, one of the highlights of 2017 was the opening of the Miracle League Inclusive Playground at Classic Park. The playground, which opened in September, is designed to accommodate children using wheelchairs and other mobility-aiding devices while preventing injuries.

Eastlake Mayor Dennis Morley feels the Miracle League Inclusive Playground is a huge draw for the city, especially when it comes to families.

“The weekend the playground opened, both special-needs kids and kids that don’t have special needs were down there interacting, that is a draw for us,” he said.

In addition, fundraising and related work continued in 2017 on the Miracle League Baseball Field for young adults and children with disabilities, which is located beside the special playground.

Eastlake also made strides on the economic development front last year.

The mayor noted that the Stonehill Hotel on Curtis Boulevard, formerly the Radisson, is doing a multimillion-dollar renovation, and the Willoughby-Eastlake Board of Education will be moving its offices into the building across from Classic Park.

“We just keep getting more manufacturing and the plaza has the furniture store that is going to be opening, Moldmasters (a manufacturer of tooling and wax patterns for the aerospace industry) is going to be opening, other businesses have made their corporate headquarters here,” Morley said. “That is what I’m looking forward to for next year. I’m going to try to get some more developments in here. ...”

Meanwhile, in Willoughby there was a lot of movement in 2017 as the city partnered with the YMCA and Willoughby-Eastlake Schools to plan the construction of a new senior center.

The city also is looking forward to seeing the transformation of an older building in town. Willoughby City Councilman Robert Carr said he is excited about the sale of the old Union High School and annex building for development into residential and office space. Construction is going to start in 2018 to convert the high school into apartments, while other buildings will be made into condos and the annex will become an office building.

More apartments also will be going in on Mentor Avenue across from Andrews Osborne Academy.

For 2018, there are several priorities Willoughby officials are focused on.

One of the main projects is getting downtown designated as a special improvement district. The plan is to hire an executive director to manage downtown.

“We have several groups we want to get together under one umbrella with the city managing all of it and having one voice for downtown,” said Robert Fiala, the city’s new mayor and a longtime former councilman. “Everything would be equal so the restaurants, the retail and the bars would all have an equal voice at the table.”

A personal goal of Fiala’s is to bring an arts and entertainment district into the downtown area. The Willoughby Arts Commission has been put together to help the city develop its brand as an arts district.

In Willowick, one of the major improvement projects of 2017 was the repaving of Lake Shore Boulevard from Euclid Avenue to Vine Street.

“It was really bad, so, it was a big deal to have it done when the (Route) 91 interchange was being done,” Mayor Rich Regovich said.

The city also made progress on its East 329th Street sewer project.

“It’s almost getting near the completion where we can test and see how effective that is and (in 2018) we are going to do 327th with a similar project, where we replace the laterals or fix the laterals where needed and slip line what we need to,” Regovich said.

Looking ahead to other goals in 2018, the mayor applied for grant money to help with lakefront development and the city’s master plan. He is hoping to hear in early spring whether the grant is approved.

Regovich also is hoping to put in a community reinvestment area into Willowick and modernize the housing stock in the area.

This is just a sampling; communities across Lake County finished 2017 on a roll. So as 2018 begins, it’s our hope that these entities will keep rolling.